Russia is using a network of military and private aircraft, similar to its maritime “shadow fleet”, to sustain its forces in Africa’s Sahel. At least 75 flights linked to Russian state-aligned military forces travelled to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger between January 2025 and July 2026, according to an analysis by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS).JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The network resembles the logic of Russia’s better-known maritime “shadow fleet” of tankers used to export sanctioned Russian oil: rather than relying exclusively on clearly identifiable state assets, Moscow uses a mix of military operators, government agencies and private carriers to keep its supply lines running. The most active operator was Flight Unit 224, a Russian defence ministry-controlled carrier already under US sanctions, the study found. But the study also identified Sapsan Airlines, Liz Aviation and Russia’s ‘Ministry for Emergency Situations’ among operators not sanctioned by the EU, US or UK. The flights point to a broader logistics system rather than isolated movements. State aircraft regularly travelled through Russian-controlled bases in Syria and Libya, while private carriers tended to use commercial hubs in Turkey, Algeria and the UAE. Tomáš Zdechovský, Czech EPP MEP and First Lieutenant in the Czech Army said the findings should trigger an urgent assessment by the EU institutions and member states.